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Imagine a production of “Hamlet” with three Hamlets. Or four or two: No one is certain who will show up when, not even the actors themselves. Now move the action from a castle in Denmark to a recording studio in Los Angeles, and instead of fratricide and revenge, let king-size egos drive the drama, boosted by a mountain of cocaine and an ocean of alcohol. Give each Hamlet a dozen Ophelias, even a wife or two from time to time, and encourage swapping.

Now you have a sense of what it was like to witness the rise, fall, resurrection and multi-car pileup that was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the folk-rock supergroup that shaped and were shaped by 1960s and ’70s counterculture while propelling millions of music lovers to near-orgasmic levels of joy, and almost killing themselves (and each other) along the way. David Browne’s “Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Supergroup” is for music lovers, but it should also be required reading for students of group dynamics. Bands implode all the time, but it’s rare for one to operate so dysfunctionally over five decades while also spawning so many imitators, influencing so many musicians and producing so much memorable music, including such hits as “Teach Your Children” and “Ohio.” Veteran journalist Browne is a senior reporter at Rolling Stone and has written books on the Grateful Dead and the Beatles, among others. It’s clear that he is a huge fan of these guys, which means that he likes them a lot more than they liked each other.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
The "Virginia Is For Lovers" Concert
Foreman Field @ Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Virginia - August 27, 1974

(Incidentally, the photo above. Click to enlarge. The editor of this blog attended this CSNY concert. It was the future thrasher's very first concert at a tender young age. To say the day left an impression would be an understatement of biblical proportions.)